Two Irish staples on the menu at Kitty O'Reilly's Irish Pub in Sturgeon Bay are corned beef and cabbager with red potatoes and root vegetables, foreground, and shepherd's pie with beef and root vegetables in the filling.(Photo: Christopher Clough/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)

The actual foods used matter — and Crook and his wife, Amy, owners of Kitty O'Reilly's Irish Pub, and head chef Jay Wahlen will have plenty of them on hand — but Crook says a sense of hospitality and a lack of pretentiousness are needed to create their signature Irish dishes.

"It's pure comfort," Crook said, in the lead up to their two-day St. Patrick's Day party this weekend. "It's not fancy, not expensive, you don't serve it on a fancy plate. It's just pure comfort."

As for the ingredients that make Irish food what it is, corned beef — a beef cut, usually brisket, cured in a seasoned brine and boiled — is a staple and is found in several dishes at Kitty O'Reilly's.

It's featured in corned beef and cabbage, of course, and Reuben sandwiches, but Kitty O'Reilly's also uses it in a macaroni and cheese dish and an appetizer that's essentially a Reuben — corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, 1000 island dressing — inside wonton wraps and deep-fried.

For St. Patrick's Day weekend, the restaurant is adding a creamy corned beef and cabbage soup to the menu. Crook said he expects to use 400 to 500 pounds of corned beef for Saturday's party and another 300 to 400 Sunday.

"We use (corned beef) whenever we can," Crook said. "We try to find multiple uses for just about everything we do."

Root vegetables — potatoes, rutabagas, carrots and turnips, for example — also feature in Irish cooking, and unlike some other Irish restaurants, Kitty O'Reilly's uses all of those, along with corn, peas and onion, in its beef-based Irish stew and shepherd's pie, which is the stew topped with mashed potatoes and cheese. Red potatoes and root veggies are also served on the side with the corned beef and cabbage.

"We add a little, but it all goes back to the traditional root vegetables of Ireland," Crook said.

Boxty — beef and vegetables atop potato pancakes — is another Irish staple on the menu, here served with mushrooms, onions and bacon.

Wahlen said certain spices are typical in Irish cuisine. Thyme, caraway seeds, parsley and rosemary add a slightly savory, sometimes sweet flavor. Apple cider vinegar is also used in a number of dishes at the restaurant.

Irish beer and liquor are used to flavor meats and sauces, too. Guinness Extra Stout ale is used to braise beef and pops up in barbecue sauce and gravy for stew and shepherd's pie; beer cheese made with Smithwick's red ale is one of five cheeses in all macaroni dishes; Harp lager is mixed into the batter for fish 'n' chips; and the green beans feature a touch of Jameson's Irish whiskey.

The fish 'n' chips with thick cod fillets, Harp lager in the batter and homemade tartar sauce is one of the most popular items at Kitty O'Reilly's Irish Pub in Sturgeon Bay.(Photo: Christopher Clough/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)

By cooking from scratch, Crook said Kitty O'Reilly's is able to put its own twist on both Irish dishes and other items. The Reuben, besides being served open-faced, also uses a sauerkraut that is a little sweeter than usual, thanks to the addition of molasses and honey. The jalapeno poppers, here called Dragon Eggs, are stuffed with cream cheese, bacon and chicken.

That ability to create its own interpretations of traditional or popular dishes, plus a feel of home cooking, is something else that Crook said is part of Irish food. It's also something he wanted to do since he left the clothing and sales business 10 years ago and opened Kitty O'Reilly's with Amy.

"It's made from scratch, it takes time," he said. "We put it in the pan, in the oven, not just in a deep-fryer. We made a conscious decision that we weren't doing a lot of normal 'bar food' here ... It's something we felt served a need. How do we do popular food with our own little switch to it?"

FYI

Food including Irish specialties will be served all day (including breakfast until 11 a.m.), green Irish beer will be available, and live classic rock will be played by Whiskey Ditch and Glas Hamr from 2 to 8 p.m. Saturday and Mad Cats at 1 p.m. Sunday.